Ever wondered who or what makes the longest annual migration on this round little planet of ours? A gray wolf from Mongolia captured the title of top terrestrial mover, having traveled 4,503 miles in one year. To put this into perspective, it would be similar to you walking from Washington DC to Los Angeles….and back…in a year, in your flip flops and loud shorts.

Of course there have been countless human migrations over the millennia. The long trek of humans out of Africa happened around 60 to 90 million years ago and then the long cold walk across the arctic to the new world was around 13,000 years ago. Columbus happily bobbed across the ocean in about two months and nine days seeking India but landed in the Bahamas where he was accosted by natives selling timeshares. I’m not sure if that last part is true but it feels like it may have happened.

So this leads us to the annual migration of snowbirds from Florida back to our diverse nests up north. It’s estimated that about 1 million of us make the pilgrimage down south to Florida each year staying at least one month. This raises the population of Florida by 5 percent each year. About 145,000 snowbirds flock to Palm Beach County alone in the winter, raising the population there about 11 percent, according to county’s figures.

At its peak in the winter there are about 400 of us in our little Whisper Creek paradise in LaBelle with 100 brave souls choosing to live here year-round willing to risk hurricanes, alligators and long backups at the Caloosahatchee river bridge.

Florida is very happy that we bring our credit cards along. In 2019 Florida snowbirds and tourists contributed $96.5 billion to the economy and supported over 1.6 million Florida jobs. Now that covid has subsided somewhat I am sure that figure is well over $100 billion.

There are a couple of sobering things to think about though, According to FDOT Florida experiences its highest number of car accidents in December and January. The National Highway Traffic And Safety Administration notes Hwy I-95 in Florida as the single most dangerous highway segment in the United States with 1.73 fatal accidents per mile!

So, for those of you that are preparing to make the annual pilgrimage back north, please be careful and drive on high alert. There are a whole bunch of us crowding the roads jockeying for the fast lane. Some hustle to drive straight through non-stop, while my wife and I choose to wander, taking almost a week to get back north. If you’re tired, please pull over! Take a nap and grab some coffee. Your friends and family would rather welcome you home than attend your funeral. Just ask them.

In any event, please take it easy, be careful, we want to see all of you back here next year!